1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates generally to dentistry and, more particularly, to methods and apparatus to remove the high-speed dental handpiece as a source of the transmisssion of disease.
Significant concern exists that the dentist's surgical theatre is a source of the transmission of microbial disease such as Hepatitis and Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome, among others.
The high-speed dental handpiece is a commonly used instrument, known to collect saliva, blood, grit and other particulate matter, and which may be a source of virus transmission.
Thus it is necessary to provide a barrier to exclude this matter from the handpiece, and to effectively stop any spread of such disease. This apparatus should be designed to be discarded after each use of the handpiece. This apparatus should also be readily determined to be in an unused condition by visual inspection, so that no error would result in a contaminated handpiece being used in the mouth of the next patient.
2. Description of the Prior Art
There have been various devices that have been proposed for the exclusion of matter from the handpiece:
______________________________________ Name U.S. Pat. No. ______________________________________ Carlson 4,752,223 Eisner et al. 4,728,290 Geller 4,693,871 Hoppe 4,266,935 Fuller 1,539,253 Martin/McTavish 1,162,941 ______________________________________
but these have not proven to be satisfactory as they include no method for the visual determination of the hygiene of the handpiece. That is to say that no means is available to determine if the apparatus has been used or not.